The murders that were committed in the Whitechapel
area of the United Kingdom in 1888 will go down
in history as the world's most famous unsolved
case. The press billed him as "Jack the Ripper"
though nothing was known about him. Was it a man?
or a woman? or more than one person? Theories
have been thrown around, from someone in the Jewish
community right up to a giant conspiracy involving
the Queen. A series of comic books became the
rage when they depicted the murders in such a
speculative and daring manner that the artists,
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, released it as
a graphic novel called "From Hell." Using the
ideas and innuendos by Stephen Knight, author
of "Jack The Ripper: The Final Solution", the
novel became a mainstream success. The movie uses
elements from the novel, but can it be as interesting
as (in my opinion) the only good adaptation of
the Ripper murders? The BBC mini-series of Jack,
with Michael Caine as Inspector Abberline? Let's
find out...

Britain in the late 1880's was poverty stricken.
The two economical stereotypes were clearly defined,
the rich and the poor. Doctors, Lawyers and aristocrats
were definitely well off while "common people",
especially foreigners and women, had to slog it
out on the dirty, mean streets. Women had to make
their money by becoming prostitutes, earning just
enough to get themselves a place to sleep at night.
Wow, how much easier would it have been if social
security was around at this time? But, these ladies
of the night have other things to worry about.
A killer lurks the streets, singling out five
prostitutes who seem to have more in common than
just selling themselves. But who exactly is the
killer? Is it one of the degenerates who live
off the streets? Or someone no-one would expect
- someone with tremendous influence and power?
It's up to Inspector Fred Abberline (Johnny Depp),
a drug addict who has visions of the murders,
to find out. With help from a prostitute who might
be in the firing line (Heather Graham), a loyal
partner (Robbie Coltrane) and an intelligent Royal
doctor (Ian Holm), Abberline must find the killer
before he continues the rampage...

As someone who has followed the Ripper killings
with great interest, and after reading a few novels
on the murders, I must say that there are a couple
of points that do not sit well with me. Firstly,
why make Abberline an addict? As the most senior
member of the task force to capture the ripper,
Abberline had to be on the ball, not going to
underground parlors to get high! A man who
knows the streets doesn't necessarily live like
the people on the streets. Plus, as competent
as Johnny Depp is in the role, the character would
be more convincing if he were a bit older. In
reality, Inspector Abberline was in his late 40's
to 50's. The rest of the cast are good.
Ian Holm does ham it up like a delicatessen near
the end of the film, but his class shines through
as Sir William Gull, head doctor to the monarchy.
Robbie Coltrane is fine as Abberline's dependable
confidante and Jason Flemying is great as Gull's
simple coachman, Netley. Heather Graham has been
bashed by a few critics for her performance as
Mary Kelly, either for being a bad actress or
simply being too good-looking to be a prostitute,
but I didn't find her too distracting at all.
She'll always be "Rollergirl" to some,
but a nice job she does here. I also must point
out the style and cinematography shown here by
the directors, Albert & Allen Hughes, and cinematographer,
Peter Deming (Evil Dead 2, Scream.)
The film looks absolutely beautiful and very glossy,
with good use of effects, like the speeding up
of film during the course of a murder and the
colour palette used in the movie.

Video

In 2:35:1 letterboxed, this film truly is a sight
to behold. A strong, clear picture with fabulous
use of colours, and no sight of dirt or scratches.
The film was meant to be dark and murky, otherwise
you would have spotted out Jack the Ripper slicing
and dicing a mile away! Fox and THX do the consumers
right once again!

Audio

When Jack pulls out his tools of destruction,
you'll hear it! The Dolby 5.1 track is exceptional,
with sound effects from blades swishing to carriages
hurtling down Whitechapel clear and vibrant. The
film also comes with a DTS track.

Extra Features

There is an audio commentary with the Hughes Brothers,
Coltrane, Cinematographer Peter Deming and writer
Rafael Yglesias which is fairly informative (I cannot
believe that Disney had the rights to From Hell for a while. Imagine what they would have done with
it? Jack might have been unmasked as Goofy!) though
they were not all taped together. There's also around
20 deleted or alternative scenes (with optional
commentary) that are not too bad, but would surely
have made the movie too long. On disc two of this
"Director's Limited Edition" is a fantastic featurette
call "Jack the Ripper: 6 Degrees of Separation",
which is like a guide to Jack the Ripper for dummies.
Everything you wanted to know about suspects, photos,
anything, will be in here. And a magnifying glass
will come up periodically to show you excepts from
some melodramatic dweeb interviewing writer Stephen
Knight about his theory on who the killers were.
There's also "A View From Hell", your standard HBO
TV preview hosted by Heather Graham (nice outfit!),
a video tour of the murder sites that were re-created
for the movie (and realistic they were, a lot of
effort went into making them look as identical as
possible), a comparison of the film next to it's
influence, the graphic novel; a featurette on Absinthe
(!), which was Inspector Abberline's drink of choice
in the film, and trailers for From Hell and Unfaithful.

The Verdict

The movie definitely leans more towards fiction
than fact, but it's very interesting because of
it. Taking a different stance does hurt this movie
from a stylistic point of view, as it doesn't even
follow it's source material from the graphic novel
faithfully. Maybe it's because the novel was a hell
of a lot cruder, but then who would pass off more
blood and gratuitous sex? Obviously the MPAA. It's
not the DEFINITIVE Jack the Ripper movie, but it's
very well made, and worth your time.

Originally born unto this world as Terror Australis.net back in March 2002, Digital Retribution is a proudly Australian website devoted to all things horror, cult, and exploitation that strives to promote Australian films and filmmakers while sharing its questionable taste in ultra-violent smut-laden local and international offerings with the rest of the world.